Critics of Christianity assail the resurrection of Jesus Christ on many fronts, including that his rising from the dead is a mythical legend stolen from pagan sources.
Did Jesus Christ rise from the dead? Should we consider the doctrine of the resurrection a valid tenet or pagan-inspired myth?
One person in these discussion boards has written: "The suffering/dying/rising atoning god story was firmly established in 'pagan' beliefs before the Christian era." Ergo, the Christians stole the story from pagan beliefs and the resurrection of Jesus is nothing more than fable.
Were there myths before the life of Christ? Of course. Did some of these myths contain elements that echo parts of Christianity? In the sense that most religions share certain points in common (such as a recognition of the supernatural), the answer would have to once again be "Of course." But was the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ specifically inspired by (and taken from) other pagan mythical accounts of "suffering/dying/rising atoning god stories"?
To make an argument in the affirmative, the proponent of such a charge must do more than point to parallels between the Bible and pagan resurrection myths. She must establish (with documentary evidence) that the suffering/dying/rising atonement myths themselves predated Jesus. Unfortunately for those who try to discredit Christianity, the earliest documentation attesting to the suffering/dying/rising atonement myths POST-date Jesus. For example, the religion of Adonis predates Jesus, but the story of Adonis returning from the dead is an addition to the legend -- an addition that postdates Jesus. This is an inconvenient problem for those charging that Christ came from Mithras or Osiris or whatever - and it's a problem they haven't been able to overcome.
What's more, these parallels are a smoke screen for them to escape an even greater problem, namely the strong historical evidence backing the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. For more on this issue, read this article and watch this video.
